Wisconsin Foodie

On Milwaukee’s Martin Luther King Drive, Luke visits Kinship — home to a café, urban farm and food center. He reunites with Chef Caitlin Cullen to explore scratch cooking, workforce training and dignity-centered food access — from cult-favorite fried chicken sandwiches to meals grown and shared with the community.

Fresh off Top Chef Season 22, Kat Turner returns to Door County to cook a hometown dinner at the Dörr Hotel. She visits iconic local cherry growers and producers, whitefish smokers and wild foragers, then links up with fellow Top Chef chefs to prepare a five-course, globally inspired yet Wisconsin-rooted meal.

At Kingston Creamery Co-op, Amish cheesemaker Nelson Schrock reveals how hand-milked cows and regenerative agriculture create award-winning blue cheese. The journey continues at Owl Farm, where Luke and Sanford (Milwaukee) Chef Justin Aprahamian transform Kingston blue and local ingredients into a transformational farm-to-table dinner.

June Dairy Month comes alive at the Dane County Breakfast on the Farm at Hinchley’s Dairy Farm, where pancakes, eggs and volunteers bring thousands together. The journey continues in Viroqua at Maybe Lately’s, where from-scratch biscuits, French toast and the iconic “Mr. Sandwich” showcase the care and craft behind a great Wisconsin breakfast.

The journey starts at Stoney Acres Pizza Farm, where farmer Tony Schultz turns wood-fired pizza nights into a delectable celebration. In Stevens Point, Luke and musician Adam Greuel (Horseshoes & Hand Grenades) tap trees and cook small-batch Casimir Gold maple syrup, before reflecting on food, music and community at BroKogi.

At Noble Rind Cheese Company, cheesemonger Sarah Clemens breaks down the craft of cut-to-order artisan cheese. The journey continues in Thorpe with Marieke Penterman, where raw milk travels from cow to vat, and a vertical tasting reveals the range of her celebrated Gouda — from young wheels to the famed “green card” cheese.

Madison’s legendary Guerrilla Cookie makes a comeback. Luke traces the countercultural treat from baker Ted Odell’s off-grid shack to its revival by Steve Apfelbaum at Three Waters Reserve and Mike Olsen of Elegant Foods. Fueled by the Willy Street Co-op, the cookie returns as a fundraiser for wetland conservation along the Sugar River.

At Mint Mark in Madison, Chef Sean Pharr demonstrates how seasonally-driven cooking comes together. He showcases foraging-level relationships with Vitruvian Farms, crafts next-level ramp sausage and cooks with insanely gorgeous oyster mushrooms. Watch how Pharr uses peak Midwest ingredients to craft simple, expressive plates.

Luke immerses himself in the Art of Cheese Festival, from a lunch at Taliesin to dinners honoring female master cheesemakers. A pizza party with Dana Spandet of Flour Girl and Flame at Seven Acre Dairy Company captures the festival's spirit. In Wisconsin, cheese is a living expression of place, people and pride.

Luke travels to Decorah, Iowa, for Seed Savers Exchange's 50th anniversary, joining Alice Waters, Sean Sherman and Linda Black Elk for a community dinner built on heirloom vegetables, wild rice and foraged foods. Then he heads to Owamni in Minneapolis, where chef Lee Garman's bison ribeye embodies the depth of Indigenous pre-contact cooking.

Luke visits Heartland Farms in central Wisconsin, where fifth-generation farmer Jeremie Pavelski oversees hundreds of millions of pounds of chipping potatoes grown each year. Next, a stop at the Food + Farm Exploration Center in Plover reveals how exhibits and a teaching kitchen reconnect visitors of all ages to how food is grown.

Luke travels to Pepin's Harbor View Cafe, a four-decade institution built on cooking to order, local sourcing and dishes like halibut with black butter caper sauce. Then it's on to Plum City, where Nettie's Volta shapes its menu from foraged ingredients and hyper-seasonal Midwestern produce. Explore the quiet culinary depth of western Wisconsin.

Luke joins Kurt Fogle - a Racine-based chef who got his start at Q&H Danish Bakery - to hand-fill and shape Wisconsin's state pastry from 18-layer Danish dough. Then he heads to Gills Rock at the northern tip of Door County, where Charlie's Smokehouse has brined and maple-smoked Lake Michigan whitefish using the same methods since 1932.